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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24486247">Love Is the Colour of Your Eyes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/eech/pseuds/eech'>eech</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Battle of Hogwarts, Hogwarts Fourth Year, Hogwarts Sixth Year, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:02:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>860</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24486247</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/eech/pseuds/eech</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time one of them said I love you, they were fourteen. Harry broke off the kiss-- their fifth, the night of the Yule Ball-- and whispered it reverently in Draco’s ear. Draco fake gagged all over Harry, but a few weeks later, shivering from the cold of the lake (“I thought it’d be a toss-up between you or Ron,” Harry’d said), he said it too. Harry pretended he’d just smelled something vile.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>82</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Love Is the Colour of Your Eyes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>     The first thing that they noticed about each other were the other’s eyes. Draco was floored in Madam Malkin’s at the clear green eyes that seemed to stare into his soul, and hoped that he really would go to Slytherin so that he could be surrounded by the colour. Harry was entranced by the way that Draco’s silver irises glinted in the low lighting of the shop, the brightest thing about him even with his shiny white-blond hair. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     The first time one of them said </span>
  <em>
    <span>I love you</span>
  </em>
  <span>, they were fourteen. Harry broke off the kiss-- their fifth, the night of the Yule Ball-- and whispered it reverently in Draco’s ear. Draco fake gagged all over Harry, but a few weeks later, shivering from the cold of the lake (“I thought it’d be a toss-up between you or Ron,” Harry’d said), he said it too. Harry pretended he’d just smelled something vile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     The third time was two days before the third task, as they fumbled their adolescent bodies through adult motions, laughing in the changing room showers. Harry thought the words would make a lovely fourth act to such a lovely play. Draco punched him on the upper arm as they left, but a few days later, holding Harry in the Hospital Wing as he wept, he said it too. Harry didn’t pretend to be repulsed, but he didn’t say it back, either-- all he could really manage was </span>
  <em>
    <span>he’s back, he’s back. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>     They lost track of all the other times they said it. It was a common phrase between the two-- a reassurance, a reminder, a promise. They used the three words freely and with abandon, </span>
  <em>
    <span>I love you </span>
  </em>
  <span>slipping out just as easily as </span>
  <em>
    <span>pass the mince, will you? </span>
  </em>
  <span>They never said it to each other the way others might-- a coupling, a pair, an </span>
  <em>
    <span>I love you </span>
  </em>
  <span>met with an </span>
  <em>
    <span>I love you, too</span>
  </em>
  <span>-- but then, Harry and Draco had never been ordinary. They still fought as much as they didn’t, still kept up their stupid ritual of slapping each other before a Quidditch match, still met each other with sneers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     The first time Harry ever used Draco’s given name was in sixth year. Draco had been so secretive that year, so distant, and Harry was so, so angry, and when Draco lifted his wand so did Harry-- and then he was on his knees on the tile floor, something red and warm and </span>
  <em>
    <span>not his </span>
  </em>
  <span>seeping into his trousers, and he was screaming </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m sorry, Draco, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it, I love you. </span>
  </em>
  <span>When Draco woke up with Harry sitting by his side, he said </span>
  <em>
    <span>I hate you </span>
  </em>
  <span>for the millionth time, and for the millionth time he didn’t mean it, but he needed Harry to leave, needed him to stop worrying over Draco. Draco was a dead man, anyways, and tying yourself to a drowning man does nothing but fill your lungs, too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     The first time Harry said </span>
  <em>
    <span>I hate you </span>
  </em>
  <span>and meant it was when he watched Snape take Draco by the arm and pull him away from the astronomy tower. Something ripped through his heart when he saw the twinkle leave Dumbledore’s eyes, and he wanted to rip that same something through Draco’s heart. He forgot that he already had, in a girl’s bathroom with carelessly thrown words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>     He stopped meaning it when Draco showed up to his house with the rest of the Order, looking more grey and drawn than he had the entirety of sixth year, and before Draco could open his mouth to beg for forgiveness Harry already had his head buried in between Draco’s neck and his shoulder. </span>
  <em>
    <span>I love you, </span>
  </em>
  <span>said Draco, rerouting, and Harry laughed and pulled at a chunk of Draco’s hair until the other boy yelped. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Now, Harry knew that he had to go. He was the final Horcrux. Just as surely as he knew he would have to say goodbye, he knew that Draco would stop him. So he said it the only way he knew how, pressing a sweet kiss to Draco’s lips and saying </span>
  <em>
    <span>I love you. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Draco smiled and said </span>
  <em>
    <span>bit sappy, Potter? </span>
  </em>
  <span>He put his head on Draco’s chest, memorized his heartbeat, let his legs carry him to the Forbidden Forest. Every step was agony. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     When the green light hit his chest, he finally got to meet his parents. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     The first time Draco used Harry’s given name was when it was sandwiched between hoarse sobs, broken down </span>
  <em>
    <span>I love you toos, </span>
  </em>
  <span>and he wished more than anything that Harry would spring up and point his wand at Voldemort and save the world at the eleventh hour like he always did. Voldemort’s silencing charm kept slipping off of the crowd, and Draco’s voice kept bouncing off the cobblestones of the courtyard in some devastated imitation of an echo. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Neville sliced Nagini in half. Ron and Hermione killed Voldemort. Draco registered none of it, keening over Harry’s dead body, his head buried in Harry’s neck so he wouldn’t have to look at those dead, green, glassy eyes, his </span>
  <em>
    <span>I love you</span>
  </em>
  <span>s muffled by his tears. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>     Harry’s funeral was grey. </span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Super short drabble that I wrote for my cousin based off of a Slytherin Golden Trio AU that we were talking about. The fact that the Golden Trio are in Slytherin isn't mentioned at all in this AU but they are. Unedited and very quickly done, mostly just to get my ideas on paper, but I hope you like it! I'm considering doing a longer version that covers all of their years at Hogwarts + the aftermath of Harry's death, let me know how you feel about it!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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